MERRY CHRISTMAS

Monday 23rd, rugs down, beds made, waiting for the first guests to arrive. Fridge to fill, tree to get, and turkey to collect on Christmas eve.  

Boxing day, we have been out for a long walk along Aberlady Bay, and now back to another grand feast.

Photos in next post.

17th, Tuesday....... plumber's been, electrician's been

I have a kitchen, and have done my first lot of washing in the machine for over 11 months (I have had access to other machines, not done without clean clothes for that period) thank you to my daughter, Mahala, who provided us with a splendid washing and drying service.

Dishwasher running.  Sparkly plates and glasses.

I am painting and cleaning - windows, floors, walls etc.

Here are some pics:

new cooker and clean windows

washing machine and dishwasher, and new fridge 

Pantry

the china cupboard (at back) and the temporary under sink cuphoard

another portrait of my new cooker

the kitchen sink.........

Friday 13th, again!

• George our bricklayer has been and taken down some of the fireplace to enable the stove installers to do their work.  
• The gas man is coming tonight to fit the cooker
• Bonk & Co. have very kindly changed the 5" liner, and associated parts, back to the 6" liner, Mark is collecting it now.
• The plumber is coming on Saturday
• The electricians come on Monday
• Stove installers sometime next week, then George will be back to refit the bricks into the chimney.

We will be in the house for Christmas, with all the family around us.  And I can have a glass of champagne (or two)!

Back to some bits of painting about the place and helping Mark to do the shelves in pantry when he has come back with the shelving.

Photos as and when.

Now, where were we.......

Ah yes, last push, two weeks to Christmas and the family arriving.  

Have just reorganised the kitchen jumble so I can get boxes marked 'KITCHEN, and FRAGILE, GLASS' in there.  

Have scrubbed the brick chimney, so that is nice and clean.  Filled in bits of plasterwork that are missing, or damaged, and am looking forward to electrician and telephone people coming tomorrow, as well as the stove installer, so nice busy day.

Have booked a pre-christmas massage next week, so I will be relaxed and hopefully about to make beds in a nice cosy house.

Cooker and Fridge in kitchen.........

my lovely new cooker repackaged

and the fridge, with its box around it to keep it safe.... (and warm - ha ha)

9th December

Today we have finished unloading the storage boxes, two came on Friday and two today.  

We have unpacked 20 boxes of books and installed them on the shelves........

before

and after....

But still more boxes to unpack and the last two shelves from IKEA don't seem to have their rods so we have called a halt for today.

the bedroom stacked

the bedroom another view, most of the stuff on the left is for the kitchen

the cupboard for the glasses etc in the background and the old bathroom cupboard which will be temporarily under the sink

We have also been measuring up for the shelves in the pantry.

Tomorrow is S and F day - hopefully they arrive at 9.30 tomorrow.  Then once the gas man has been I will be "cooking with gas!!!!!"

Thursday, 5th December, long and slow

The outside has been rendered, now and the scratching off is taking place.

11.47 rendering process on back of house, top edge

14.37

15.33

This took most of yesterday.

George has rebuilt the fireplace opening..........

Picture when I can get into building.

3rd December

No photos today - but yesterday the white coat of render went on part of the front of the house.

George has come today and is going to sort the fireplace - has discovered that the old ash box site was in situ and so that needs to be filled in before he can start to build up.  I am just about to make him a cup of tea, milk, no sugar. Not a builders cup of tea which usually has two or three spoons of sugar! 

I am out all day, so will see tomorrow how the rendering has got on.

Jolly 1st December 2013 only 6 weeks and we can celebrate a year since work first started.......

1st of December, a Sunday, and chaps are working on our house.  We now have CENTRAL HEATING and HOT WATER.........

Thank you Stephen Miller for getting it up and running - now working our how to get it to work - have managed to turn everything off, now need to check all the radiators are working?  One for John the builder, I think.

Doors up (again)

The first coat (under render) has gone up and it's anticipated that the white coat will start tomorrow, for the next couple of days, with the big team on the job.  

Of course, not all things go right - the new sink is a right-hand one instead of a left-hand one.  So I hope that we can get Howdens to change it.

And the furniture was supposed to be coming tomorrow afternoon, but if the gang are plastering we will have to delay it.

We had a senior moment in IKEA and bought a set of shelves without picking up all the uprights - went back and of course someone has been in and taken the remaining 14 uprights.  Hope there will be some more in tomorrow.  
And the chimney has only room for a 5" liner and the liner we have is a 6" one, but the smaller one is will be in stock tomorrow!  

George all lined up for restoring the chimney next Sunday.

Off for a shower now